National Organization for Development of Exceptional Talents (NODET; also known by its native acronym SAMPAD) is an

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

ian organization founded in 1976 that governs a series of

selective school A selective school is a school that admits students on the basis of some sort of selection criteria, usually academic. The term may have different connotations in different systems and is the opposite of a comprehensive school, which accepts all s ...

History

The organization was founded in the Autumn of 1976 by Iraj Broomand as ''National Iranian Organization for Gifted and Talented Education'' (''NIOGATE''), with two mixed-gender schools in Tehran (Alvand and Bolvar), with a budget of 13 million tomans. It was to serve as a model of excellence for education in Iran. This innovative organization was short-lived but its influence in the country was significant. Several international and American organizations collaborated with this nascent program, including the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

and the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

Education Commission. After the 1979 Revolution, the organization was continuing its work unofficially, until it was re-established in 1987 as ''National Organization for Development of Exceptional Talents'' (''NODET''; ''Sāzmān-e Melli-ye Parvaresh-e Este'dādhā-ye Derakhshān'', acronym ''SAMPAD'').

Schools

The organization has 99

middle school Middle school, also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school, is an educational stage between primary school and secondary school. Afghanistan In Afghanistan, middle school includes g ...

s and 98

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

s. The schools are informally called ''Tizhooshan'' (, literally "sharp minds"). The boys schools in Tehran are often named '' Allameh Helli'' () and the girls schools are often named '' Farzanegan'' ().

Entrance

The organization recruits students annually through a two-step set of nationwide exams at both middle school and high school levels. The tests are designed to measure intelligence, talent and creativity rather than prior knowledge. The rate of acceptance is less than 5% for the thousands of students who apply annually. The entrance for the educational and administrative staff is also selective. The teachers tend to be the best in the country.

Education system

The educational materials, facilities, instructional methodologies, coursework and curriculum are different in these schools, and intended to develop the students' talents. The courses are college-level in fields such as biology, chemistry, mathematics, physics and English. The schools usually offer only two majors, mathematics-physics and experimental sciences. Virtually all medals in the Iranian Science Olympiads are won by the NODET students. The students are also top performers in many

International Science Olympiad The International Science Olympiads are a group of worldwide annual competitions in various areas of the formal sciences, natural sciences, and social sciences. The competitions are designed for the 4-6 best high school students from each partici ...

Alumni

NODET alumni usually pursue higher education up to postgraduate level. Some of the alumni are world class researchers in STEM fields and medicine. Notable alumni include the mathematician

Maryam Mirzakhani Maryam Mirzakhani (, ; 12 May 1977 – 14 July 2017) was an Iranian mathematician and a professor of mathematics at Stanford University. Her research topics included Teichmüller space, Teichmüller theory, hyperbolic geometry, ergodic the ...

, chess grandmaster Elshan Moradi, computer scientist Farinaz Koushanfar, and Unicode expert Roozbeh Pournader.

References

External links

National Organization for Development of Exceptional Talents
{{Gifted Programs Selective schools Gifted education Educational organizations established in 1976 Educational institutions established in 1987 1987 establishments in Iran 1976 establishments in Iran